


I Don't Want You (Like A Best Friend)

by ForeverInMyLaugh



Category: Marvel, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Artist Steve Rogers, Bottom Tony Stark, Domestic Avengers, Fluff, Fluff and Smut, M/M, Not Canon Compliant, Slow Burn, Smut, Steve Rogers Needs a Hug, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, Top Steve Rogers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-01
Updated: 2019-04-01
Packaged: 2019-12-30 12:46:10
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,280
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18315530
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ForeverInMyLaugh/pseuds/ForeverInMyLaugh
Summary: Domestic Avengers with pining Steve and oblivious Tony. How else could I summarize it?





	I Don't Want You (Like A Best Friend)

It isn't like Steve has never had a- it isn't a crush, no- an infatuation before. It's just that he's always had excuses to hide them before. "Why don't you just grow a pair and tell him you like him Steve?" was something he'd always heard from people, usually Bucky, but living in a time where being gay was illegal -as bad as it sounds-  always had his back. What now though? When he found out that people were relatively more accepting, and that a man liking another man wasn't a crime by law, well lets just say he was kind of relieved. Obviously, being gay while also Captain America was a little hard but his teammates- his friends- were always there for him. Especially Tony. Tony had always been very open about his sexuality. When Steve first found out Tony was bisexual, it made him feel some kind of way. He wasn't attracted to him, but it made him feel like he wasn't so out of place after all.

 

Tony's drunken one nightstands were usually all over the news. Steve didn't really understand why anyone would want to invade someone's private life like that, but Tony didn't really seem to mind it all that much so Steve let it pass. 

 

Steve never really liked how Tony got the most obscene questions during press, or how no one even batted an eye when Tony clearly hid all his discomfort behind that intimidating smirk while all those failing channels asked questions like 'What's your favorite sex position with women, not men because no one wants to know that'. He couldn't take it any longer. Steve hated bullies and well, these questions were classified as bullying in Steve's head. So he decked him in the face. A full blown Captain America punch in the jaw for troubling his best friend. After the incident he was given "special classes" on how to conduct himself during press.

"Maybe give those shitty journalists some classes," and Tony gave him the softest smile ever. 

 

Tony was... happy? And grateful too maybe. It made his heart melt and that was _not_ good. He spent the rest of the day trying to capture that smile on paper. He closed his eyes and all he could see was Tony, and that winsome smile, but he just couldn't recreate it on paper and it was driving him mad. Two days in and he was frustrated. His room was filled with crumpled up sheets of paper with drawings of Tony, but none of them were _Tony_. So what could he do? What would any sane person do? Ah yes, set out on a mission to get his best friend to smile like that again. He was pretty sure Tony had never smiled like that before, not in front of him at least. But he _needed_ to make that happen. 

 

The obvious question was, "Why? Why the fuck are you so obsessed with that smile?"

Thousands of people were grateful to Steve. Well, they were grateful to Captain America but it was pretty much the same thing. Steve saw hundreds of people give him a happy, grateful smile everyday, so why was he so obsessed with Tony's? It isn't like he was starved of it. 

 

Now he obviously was not just going to approach Tony and tell him to 'Smile like you did when I defended you'. That wouldn't be a genuine smile. Plus he wasn't brave enough. So he did random acts of  kindness, like making Tony coffee, or opening the door for him, or taking Tony's side during friendly banters between the avengers.  But he never got _that_ smile. The one that made _him_ smile. Yes they were beautiful too, his whole face was beautiful, Steve liked his face. It was good. But that smile? Ohhohoho. _That_ smile made his heart flutter. Made him feel like he had done something worthwhile. As Captain America he felt that on the daily. But as Steve Rogers, making Tony genuinely happy became his purpose.

 

Steve thought that if he told anyone about how he felt they'd ridicule him. Making your best friend happy should not be a person's life goal. But he could't help it. His best friend was just _that_ beautiful. It wasn't long till Steve realized that he did not actually want Tony as his best friend. He wanted so much more(shocker). Don't get him wrong, Tony had been the absolute best. He was an amazing best friend to have. But Steve just couldn't get his gutter mind off of his beautiful ass(and lips, and fingers, and hair, and basically Tony's body). He felt guilty everytime he even looked at it, but he just couldn't stop looking. So he started drawing Tony again. It was a bummer he couldn't get that smile right, but there were certain other ways he drew Tony that were almost as pleasurable as that. 

 

Yes yes, he would draw Tony with that bewitching smile some day too. But till the time he was working on a plan on how to get Tony to smile like that, he just needed another way to kill time. And God forbid that activity did not include Tony in some way or the other.

 

Everyone noticed that Steve had started spending more and more time with Tony. Bruce couldn't ignore Steve loudly showing his fascination with everything Tony did even if he wanted to. He. Was. Always. There. Even during the most boring lab days, Steve was there. And he was never really interested in what Bruce was doing. Just Tony.

Natasha , well Natasha just knew. No one really needed the justification for that statement. It's Natasha.

Knowing that Steve was upto something wasn't hard for Bucky. He knew the face he made whenever Tony was as much as mentioned in a 5 feet radius around Steve. And he was done. Bucky had had enough of Steve's lovesick bullshit and he was not in the mood for more.

Clint was always in the vents and everytime he heard Tony's voice, Steve's came with it. "Oh what are you doing now Tony?" "I'm literally just staring at the ceiling" "Oh how interesting. Must be some genius thing. haha". Clint was done.

Thor didn't really care about what was up. He was always just ... being Thor... somewhere. But he did once ask Bruce when his two friends "Man of Iron and Captain of This Land" got eloped so the others took that as a win.

 

So they nominated Natasha to confront Steve and inquire him about what was going on. But Steve just, awkwardly laughed and got the fuck out. Natasha decided that she wouldn't ever get into "stupid men's business" again. Steve was kinda glad. Although now that he was aware of the others being onto him he, well he didn't _really_ do anything, but he thought he was being more careful that poor little puppy.

 

Here's what was really a problem for him: If everyone else knew there was something up with the way Steve was acting, there was an enormous chance that Tony knew too. So he stayed up all night thinking about how he could be near Tony without him knowing that Steve was in love with him. Ten minutes later he shot up in utter panic, and sat on his bed completely still for about five more minutes because yay! He had finally realized that he was in love with Tony. It isn't everyday you realize you fucked up, but when you do, you think of ways to fuck up even more. Bucky always called it "dealing with problems the Steve Rogers style". Bucky was right. 

**Author's Note:**

> This is kind of like a preface, the real thing will begin from the next chapter.


End file.
